Local leaders rally against ODOT planning map

To the Stark Development Board and the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, a map in a state planning document threatens Stark County's economic future.

Robert Wang CantonRep.com staff writer @rwangREP

Local business leaders fear a map in the state's long-term draft transportation plan could hinder jobs from coming into Stark County in the coming decades.

Stephen Paquette, CEO of the Stark Development Board, was taken aback by the proposed Ohio Department of Transportation's Access Ohio 2040 plan, which was released in November.

In his view, the map downgrades Interstate 77 south of Canton by calling that stretch a "Statewide Highway Corridor," rather than a "National Highway Corridor" like all other interstates in Ohio.

Paquette said I-77, which travels through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina before ending in South Carolina, provides local transportation and manufacturing companies a key route to transport goods to and from southern ports. Paquette is concerned that any widenings, new interchanges or new connections to I-77 that are needed to accommodate development south of Canton won't get state or federal funding.

Paquette believes the map also ignores the prospect of expanding by 35 miles the U.S. Route 30 expressway east from Canton to state Route 11 in Columbiana County. He believes this would improve truck traffic access from Stark County to Pittsburgh and make it easier for energy companies to get to oil and gas drilling sites in Carroll and Columbiana counties. Project supporters also hope Pennsylvania would improve its stretch of Route 30 to Pittsburgh, which becomes a two-lane road on crossing the Ohio River.

The cost of a Route 30 extension in Ohio is estimated to be at least $900 million. And officials for decades have delayed project construction since at least the 1980s due to lack of funds.

Route 30 is four lanes from Trump Avenue in Canton Township west to Indiana. East of Trump Avenue, it becomes a winding two-lane road with lower speed limits through eastern Stark County and Columbiana County before hitting Route 11 near Lisbon.

Route 30 east of Canton was part of the original Lincoln Highway, but it's often clogged with traffic — particularly in recent years with increased trucks related to the burgeoning oil and gas industry — in towns like East Canton and Minerva.

People can take the current Route 30 to Pittsburgh, but it's at least a two-hour journey over 90 miles. Or they can go via I-77 and I-76 through Akron and Youngstown, which takes two hours to go 130 miles with toll stops.

"Route 30 is four lanes from Chicago all the way to Trump," said Dennis Saunier, CEO of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce. "Why it doesn't continue just doesn't make any sense. ... You have a major market (in Pittsburgh) 90 miles away. You can't get to it from here unless you go north or south. We have a road that basically takes us to that area, but it's antiquated."

Paquette said the map also doesn't recognize the existence of the Neomodal rail terminal in Navarre or an intermodal facility in Columbiana County at Wellsville along the Ohio River.

Under the state's scoring system, that could impact funding for a Route 30 expressway because it could facilitate truck traffic to the intermodal terminals.

To Paquette, I-77 and Route 30 not being top state priorities means a "remote chance" of funding for improvements on those highways. To him, that means fewer companies moving here. And fewer jobs.

CAMPAIGNING

Paquette, the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce and local executives are calling for local businesses to provide comments to ODOT on the Access Ohio 2040 plan by the Jan. 15 deadline. They held a Dec. 13 meeting in Atwater with officials from Stark, Carroll and Columbiana counties about renewing the push for Route 30.

State Rep. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township, said he agrees with the concerns and is trying to set up a meeting this month between the executives and ODOT Director Jerry Wray. In a meeting at Stark State on Nov. 25, Wray told business leaders that if local governments and companies could provide much of the money that would improve the chances of extending Route 30.

ODOT spokesman Steve Faulkner declined to explain the map. He said ODOT welcomes the public's comments on Access Ohio 2040 and would consider them.

Faulkner said the designation of I-77 in the draft plan doesn't mean that it would be less likely to get funding than other interstates, according to guidelines by the Transportation Review Advisory Council. The nine-member body decides which major highway projects get funding from state and federal gas tax revenue and Ohio Turnpike bond proceeds.

Canton Engineer Dan Moeglin, a member of the Access Ohio 2040 steering committee since May 2012, said Faulkner is correct.

But, "if you have two projects that are generally equal and one is on a nationally significant corridor and the other is on a statewide significant corridor, well which ones are you going to fund first?" Moeglin asked.

He said the problem of the "downgrading" of I-77 is that it affects perception of the area and it "sends a message to people who might want to bring in their businesses." In addition, he said past ODOT long-range plans declared that a Route 30 expansion was a key part of the state's transportation strategy. Access Ohio 2040 does not.

The map that disturbs Paquette is in a section of the draft Access Ohio 2040 plan entitled "Strategic Transportation System," where ODOT is looking to focus spending on "the most significant corridors to Ohio" that "will provide the greatest return." It defines national corridors as ones which "connect large metropolitan areas in Ohio and adjacent states" and carry large amounts of passengers and freight. Statewide primary corridors "connect metropolitan areas within Ohio."

THINNER LINE

Moeglin said he believes an ODOT staffer gave a downgraded designation to much of I-77 because it may have had lower commercial truck traffic than other interstates. But while south of Canton I-77 doesn't connect any other major metropolitan areas in Ohio, Moeglin said the highway connects Ohio to major cities in other states such as Charleston, W.Va., Charlotte, N.C. and Columbia, S.C.

Doug Sibila, CEO of Peoples Services, a local trucking and warehouse company, said the Panama Canal is being expanded, allowing bigger supercontainer ships to more easily reach southeastern U.S. ports such as Charleston, S.C. from the Pacific Ocean. In addition, BMW, Michelin, chemical manufacturers and Timken Co. have plants in South Carolina, he said. Because of Ohio's central location, much of the goods from those ships and plants would go to or through Ohio via I-77.

Sibila said due to the state's central location, truck traffic will continue to grow and if capacity isn't increased, businesses that find their access on I-77 hampered will go elsewhere.

DREAM DEFERRED

In 2003, TRAC allocated $9.8 million in preliminary work for Route 30 expansion. But in 2006, long before unconventional oil and gas drilling took off here, TRAC removed the project from its funding list, saying that the low number of vehicles didn't justify the project's cost.

Moeglin said the formula doesn't take into account motorists now using other two-lane state routes — such as state Route 172 to get to Columbiana County — who would likely use a four-lane Route 30.

In March, ODOT concluded that tolls would not raise enough money to fund the extension, even assuming increases in oil and gas traffic. With the state's gas tax revenue stagnant, the prospects for the project appeared bleak.

Paquette said the Route 30 extension is needed to relieve congestion from the oil and gas trucks and to reduce the chances of a deadly accident.

Sibila said with trucks averaging four miles to the gallon, any time savings from a Route 30 expansion to western Pennsylvania can save a lot of money.

"Every 15 minutes you save in general equates to $20 to $25 of savings for operating costs by truck," he said, adding that an extension would also open the area to tourism from Pennsylvania.

Sibila said he would increase the state gas tax to fund the project and consider a higher severance tax on oil and gas drilling and property tax revenue from economic development zones to help fund the extension.

Beaver Excavating President and CEO Mark Sterling, who said increasing motor vehicle registration fees were also an option, expressed concern that the longer the state waits the higher the cost will rise. The cost of road materials such as asphalt have increased with the price of petroleum. Standards on erosion control, drainage, lifespan of the highway and adding noise walls have become more stringent. In addition, many trucks trying to bypass traffic on 30 are taking local side roads not designed to handle the loads.

TRAC member David Regula of Bethlehem Township said once ODOT sees the dramatic increase in oil and gas traffic in eastern Ohio it will designate all of I-77 a national corridor and be more willing to fund Route 30. Regula said TRAC has given the project a low score in the past because it looks mainly at current traffic volumes and local governments aren't able to provide much of a local match.

"I fully expect in five years to someday cut a ribbon on the 30 extension," he said.